Media: BOOK - paperback, 336 pages
Author: I. Shaw
Year: 2017
ISBN: 9780733637292
Other: b&w photos, map, bibliog
Publisher: Hachette Australia

This is the unknown story of how a fleet of Australian fishing boats, trawlers and schooners supplied US and Australian forces in the Pacific - and helped turn the course of World War II.

Mid-1942: from China to New Guinea, the Pacific belonged to the Japanese. 

In this desperate situation, a fleet of hundreds of Australian small ships is assembled, sailing under the American flag, and crewed by over 3000 Australians either too young or too old to join the regular armed forces. Their task: to bring supplies and equipment to the Allied troops waging bloody battled against Japanese forces across the South Pacific.

'The Rag Tag Fleet' is the unknown story of the final months of 1942 - when these men ran the gauntlet of Japanese air attacks, malaria and dysentry, reefs, and shallow, shark-infested waters to support the US and Australian troops that defeated the entrenched Japanese forces at Buna on the New Guinea coast, and so helped turn the war in the Allies' favour.

Their bravery, ingenuity and mettle helped turn the tide of the war. For the first time, their story is told.

Contents:
Prologue: Sailing the South Seas 1934-41
1. Mission X
2. Forming a Fleet
3. North
4. The Smell of Land, the Bark of a Dog
5. Friendly Fire
6. The Red Arrow Line
7. In Harm's Way
8. Hariko
9. Into the Maelstrom
10. The Return of the Red Arrow Line
11. Waiting for the Cavalry
12. Base B
13. Setting Sun
14. Home from the Sea
Epilogue: The Small Ships of Buna
A Note on Sources
Endnotes
Bibliography
Acknowledgements